The Once-Per-Year Rollover Rule and The Recent Proposals by Congress: Today’s Slott Report Mailbag
By Sarah Brenner, JD
Director of Retirement Education
Follow Us on Twitter: @theslottreport
Question:
I have four IRAs. Does the once-per-year IRA rollover rule mean I can only take one distribution per year in total or does it mean I can only take one distribution per year from each of my four IRAs?
Glen
Answer:
Hi Glen,
The once-per-year rollover rule can be confusing. The IRS has made it clear in guidance that this rule does apply in the aggregate. It does NOT apply on a per IRA basis. This means that no matter how many IRAs you have, you cannot roll over any IRA distribution that occurs within 12 months of another distribution that was rolled over.
Question:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have a question about the new proposals in Congress. Are inherited IRAs added to the totals to see if a taxpayer is above $10 million? By definition they are already in RMD phase, so I wonder if they are excluded from those forced RMDs of assets above $10 million?
Thanks for your help,
Michael
Answer:
Hi Michael,
There have been a lot of questions about the recent proposals coming out of Congress that would restrict very large IRAs and require distributions from them. The proposal as currently written would include inherited IRAs when determining whether a taxpayer exceeds the $10 million threshold.
It is important to remember that right now these are only proposals. No one knows for sure whether they will become law, but we are keeping a close eye on them.